Alone
by nonfatyogurt19
Summary: Finn has always wondered how he came to be the only human left in Ooo. Marceline wants to help him uncover the truth, but in the end, what is Finn willing to sacrifice in order to answer that burning question that has haunted him for so long. "Am I alone?"


**First ever adventure time story. Here we go!**

* * *

_ "Am I really the only one left?"_

The ensuing knife storm added a whole new sense of dread as Finn the Human sat alone in his room deep in thought. "Soul searchy" was an understatement for how Ooo's local hero felt at this particular moment. It had never really occurred to him until this day just how alone it made him feel to be the only human in Ooo, maybe even the world. That deep, gnawing feeling of isolation and loneliness ebbed away at Finn's fragile mind, slowly festering until his whole brain felt numb like an arm that had lost all sensation.

"_There has to be someone else like me. I mean, I was born into this world right? At least...I think I was"._

The idea of him being created in a lab like some kind of horror show briefly flashed through his mind; floating half formed in a giant test tube while some deranged scientist poked and prodded at his growing parts. The mere thought made his skin crawl and served to only deepen his sense of isolation. Being the only human left would be one thing, at least at some point, there were others who had birthed him and his biological parents. But being an artificially grown human would mean that he was truly alone, a mere replica of an entire civilization that had died out centuries ago.

Finn's thoughts turned to those who now occupied the land of Ooo. Candy people, monsters, hot dog people, ghosts. All somewhat human, if not horrifically mutated or reconstituted.

There was Princess Bubblegum, who if not for her pink color and body made of bubblegum, would look completely human.

Or Marceline, who at one point was half human before she became the immortal night walker she is today.

Even the Ice King was once human, according to Marceline. Changed only into the princess crazed fool he is today because of his magic crown that now sits upon his head.

Flame Princess, Abracadaniel, Ghost Princess. Hell, even Moe was human once, before his advanced age forced him to replace his organic parts with cybernetic copies. All the signs of humanity were there; humanoid beings, rundown buildings and cars, trinkets and junk scattered about the landscape. Yet, here he was... alone, not a sign of human life in sight.

"_All of them. So close to being human. Close...but not close enough"._

Finn sighed as he brought himself out of his musings to stare out his bedroom window. The knife storm had grown in intensity and was now visibly scarring the landscape; paired with the sun, now completely hidden by dark clouds, made the plains look completely desolate, like a terrible battle had been waged just outside his doorstep.

"Fitting", Finn said as he stood up from his bed, comparing the raging storm to the internal battle he was fighting with his mind.

"Better go downstairs before Jake sends a rescue party", Finn said as he began to make his way to the ladder leading downstairs.

Arriving at the kitchen, Finn could smell the familiar scent of bacon pancakes, Jake's specialty and all time favorite breakfast food. It never ceased to amaze him how Jake could make so many foods with bacon and still make it edible and delicious.

"_Perks of being an avid bacon eater_", he guessed internally.

Jake, upon hearing his brother and best friend entering the kitchen, turned to greet Finn and offer up some breakfast, but stopped short when he noticed Finn's worn demeanor.

"Hey man", Jake said with slight worry in his voice, "Nightmares again?"

"Yea", Finn said as he sat at the table and laying his head on the wooden surface, "It's getting worse man. It's eating away at my brain".

Jake finished his batch of bacon pancakes and plated a serving. Walking to the table, he placed a full plate of food in front of Finn and sat down next to him.

After his eighteenth birthday last month, Finn began to have terrible nightmares involving the lack of humans in the land of Ooo. Some nights were better than others, but some, like the past night, put an intense strain on Finn's psyche. Eyeing his brother, Jake noticed just how bad Finn's nightmares had begun to affect him.

His eyes had become increasingly sunken in, surrounded by prominent black bags that gave his face an almost deathly pallor. Putting his hand to Finn's head, Jake could feel that his skin, now visibly paler, was almost icy cold, almost like Marceline's. Even his hair, once bright and golden like the sun itself, was now visibly dulling.

"_He didn't even bother to put on his hat_", Jake thought to himself, "_This is getting pretty serious_"

"What was your dream like this time bro? What did you see?"

Finn slowly raised his head from the table and turned to Jake, eyes downcast as he tried to remember what he saw in that hellish nightmare. Palms sweaty and head pounding, Finn began to recount his dream with as much detail as he could muster.

* * *

_Everything was dark. His senses, completely dulled, failed to give Finn any input as to where or when he was. Stumbling around in darkness, Finn could feel the claustrophobia setting in, making his heart rate jump and mind race._

_ "Where am I?", he asked aloud, though he couldn't hear the words leave his lips, "Is anyone there?"_

_ His panic rising, Finn began to run. He screamed, trying with all his heart to make himself known to the darkness that engulfed him, but with all his senses absent, he could not hear his own cries nor see his surroundings. He could not feel the wind upon his skin as he ran or taste the air in his mouth. Was he even running at all? For all he knew, he could be standing still and quiet, merely imagining everything he willed his body to do. As hopelessness began to set in, Finn broke down into sobs, fearing that he would be forever trapped in this eternal hell._

_ Then, just as his mind slowly began to fall apart, he heard something. A distant noise, so faint, that he couldn't tell if it was real or just his mind hallucinating, trying to cope with the maddening silence. Using all his might, Finn calmed his mind and tried to listen. Waiting...hoping that the noise would make itself heard once more._

_ As seconds turned to minutes, the noise did not return. Finn broke down as he began to sob once more, feeling truly alone for the first time in his life._

_ "Finn..."_

_ Finn's eyes shot wide open and like a freight train to his chest, everything hit him at once. _

_ Screaming. All he could hear was screaming. It was so loud! Women, men, children...all screaming in terror of some unknown danger. Finn slapped his hands to his ears to try to silence the deafening roar. The screaming was so loud, he could feel his ears begin to bleed as the blood seeped between his cracked fingers. _

_ The smell of burnt flesh and contaminated air assaulted his nose, causing him to vomit violently, leaving puddles of bile and blood on the ground in front of his feet. _

_ The heat in the air, hot like fire, seared his skin and left pus filled welts on his arms and face. The pain was so intense, he could barely stay conscious. Falling to his knees in agony, Finn screamed in pain, his cries now finally echoing into his bleeding ears. _

_ As the minutes ticked by, the pain slowly began to subside. Eyes still closed, Finn managed to pull himself up from the ground. Lifting his head, he slowly opened his eyes. _

_ What he saw would forever haunt him until his death._

_ The earth itself had torn apart at his feet as giant mushroom clouds rose high into the sky, eclipsing the sun and bathing the earth beneath in radioactive ash. Women and men alike, tripping over charred corpses that littered the crumbling streets, found utter despair as they discovered the bodies they now tripped over belonged to none other than their loved ones. _

_ The earth beneath Finn's feet rumbled as burning structures in the distance collapsed, catching and burying those unaware of the falling debris in a concrete tomb. The sky had turned a deathly red as the raging fires reflected off the clouds of dust and ash that now blocked out the sun._

_ "Make it stop!", Finn screamed to no one in particular, "Please! Stop! Please Glob, make it stop!". _

_ Blood soaked tears fell from his eyes as the horrific events continued to unfold in front of his very eyes. Finn tried to close his eyes, anything to make it all just go away. But he could not. Paralyzed by some unknown force, Finn was forced to watch the unholy seen that played out before him, like a spectator forced to watch his own family murdered._

_ In the distance, Finn could see a small child, burned and dismembered, trying to claw her way to a nearby corpse. Both legs gone and bare bone where skin and muscle once sat, the child crawled up to the corpse and grabbed a charred, bony hand._

_ "Mommy...Mommy! I...I can't see! Please Mommy, help me! I'm scared!"_

_ The child screamed for her mother over and over. Whether or not the corpse was indeed the child's mother, Finn had no clue, but that made the scene all the more horrific._

_ The child continued to scream, not just for her mother, but for anyone to help her. Finn's natural hero instinct was to jump to her rescue. He wanted to help her so bad, to do anything to ease the girl's suffering. But he could do nothing._

_ Eventually, the child's cries began to grow softer in volume, until it reached a nearly inaudible whisper. Crawling fully into the corpse's lap, the little girl rested her head against its chest. With one final squeeze of the corpse's hand, the little girl sobbed quietly in the embrace of what Finn prayed was her mother's body. _

_ As the life slowly faded from the child's bleeding eyes, she raised her head slightly and turned towards Finn. Seeing him standing there, she noticed his silly bear hat that he always wore. With a tiny, whisper like giggle, the child smiled, clearly in a state of delusion brought on by her injuries._

_ As the last bit of life drained from her body, the child's eyes slowly closed, until she finally lay still, silenced forever._

_ What little sanity that had remained within Finn, was now gone, destroyed by the heart wrenching scene that had just played out not ten feet away. _

_ Eyes, completely devoid of any emotion, turned skyward to stare at the blood red sky. In the sky above, Finn could see a small object falling rapidly towards the earth. As it grew closer to the ground, the object grew in size and its features became clearer. Seconds before it finally reached the ground, Finn saw a symbol painted on the object's body. A symbol he had seen many times in and around the ancient junk piles that littered the land of Ooo. Three black triangles, all pointed at each other, surrounded by a yellow background._

_ As the object hit the ground, Finn blinked._

_ A blinding light exploded into existence in front of his eyes. The light, so bright that it outshined the very sun itself, ignited his flesh and burned his very soul. The entire world went white and time seemed to stand still for Finn. The light began to devour everything in sight. _

_ The last image he saw was that of the little girl being engulfed in light and fire. As the blinding light slowly reached and enveloped him, he felt his body dissolving into the light until nothing was left. As the world fell apart, high above the earth, a giant golden owl materialized from the smoke, ash, and fire. Looking down to the earth below, it spread its massive wings, and wailed into the heavens above. And just as quickly as it appeared, the giant owl ignited and vanished as it too was enveloped in the blinding light._

* * *

Jake was silent throughout the entire tale, struck dumb by the intensity of Finn's dream.

Finn opened his eyes and looked to Jake with desperation in his face. Tears rolling down his cheeks, Finn asked a simple, yet heart wrenching question.

"Jake? Am...am I broken?"

"Bro...", Jake said as he hugged his brother tight, "You're not broken".

"Yes I am", Finn said weakly, "I haven't slept well for weeks. I'm constantly plagued by these dreams of death and fire. I can feel my mind slipping every passing day. I just...don't know how much more I can take".

"Listen to me Finn", Jake said in a stern tone, "You're many things. You're brave, you're noble, you're sometimes a big baby that can't even stand to look at the ocean. But broken? No. Far from it. If you're broken, then the Ice King is the most handsome man alive".

Finn allowed himself a tiny chuckle at the idea of a handsome Ice King. Looking at his brother, Finn let loose a small smile.

"Thanks Jake".

"Anytime bro", Jake said as he and Finn went for a fist bump.

Walking back to his chair, Jake had a puzzled look on his face.

"Finn, from what you described, it sounds like the Cosmic Owl made an appearance in your dream".

"Yea, I guess so", Finn said as he pulled up his own chair, "But it was odd. This wasn't like the Cosmic Owl we know today. It was...different, like, more primal. That last second of my dream, I saw it die...but that can't be. The Cosmic Owl can't die...can't it?"

Jake sat deep in thought. The Cosmic Owl only presented itself in prophetic dreams. Clearly, Finn's dream couldn't be prophetic, it sounds like it happened in the past, before or during the Mushroom War when humans were still around. But if it wasn't a prophecy, then it must mean...

"Finn...", Jake said, eyes widening.

"What is it Jake?"

"Finn, I think I understand your dreams. I think...I think the Cosmic Owl just showed you its own croak dream".

Finn's eyes widened.

"_The Cosmic Owl's own croak dream? But how?_", Finn thought to himself,

"But Jake, my dreams happen in the past, when humans are still around, how can the Cosmic Owl die in the past? And for that matter, how can the Cosmic Owl even die?", Finn asked skeptically.

"The Cosmic Owl is a being of great power", Jake started, "I remember Prismo telling me a while back that Cosmic Owl has had many lives throughout the history of everything. At every turn of a new age, he dies and his cosmic essence is returned to Glob world. From there, Glob gives life to a new Cosmic Owl and sends him off to watch over every living being, until his eventual death and rebirth at the next age of existence".

"Whoa! Jake! How come you never told me any of this junk?", Finn asked incredulously.

"I dunno bro", Jake said, scratching his head, "I guess it didn't feel like it was my place to say. But don't you see Finn? Cosmic Owl is showing his past life's croak dream!"

"But why?", asked Finn

"Well, you said you saw humans in your dreams, right?"

"Yea...they're in all of them", Finn said longingly, "But all I see is death in those dreams. Sadness, pain, and death. Why would Cosmic Owl want to show me that?"

"Don't you see dude? The Cosmic Owl isn't just showing you his croak dream. He's showing you what happened to all the humans", Jake said, voice turning solemn, "Whatever happened to them caused a major turning point in history...the fall and end of the age of humanity. You're experiencing the last moments of humankind through his croak dream".

Finn couldn't believe what he was hearing. All of that pain and destruction he had witnessed in his dream had actually happened. It was too unreal, like a waking dream.

Realization was slowly creeping into Finn's mind.

"Then...if what you're saying is true...I really am the only human left. I really am alone in this world".

"You're not alone bro", Jake said in an attempt to comfort him, "You have me, and PB, and Marceline, and every other being in Ooo that you've helped throughout your life. They respect and admire your courage and friendship. As long as one of us still breaths, you will never be truly alone".

"Thanks Jake", Finn said as he stood from his chair, "I understand that I have people who care about me and I will always appreciate them, but that still doesn't change the fact that I'm the only one of my kind. I'll never see another human or know what it truly means to be human. I'll never know my own people's history, our failures, our greatest achievements. It's all lost forever. That's a loneliness that will never go away".

There was really nothing Jake could say. Finn was right. With no other humans around, Finn had no one like him to compare his own achievements too. Were all humans like Finn? Strong, courageous, willing to fight for what was right. Or was Finn the only human who acted that way. For all he knew, humans could have been the complete opposite, or something completely different. There was just no way to truly know.

"Jake?"

"Yea bro?", Jake replied cautiously.

"Why do you think the Cosmic Owl wanted to show me all of this? What's the point of showing me the fall of humanity if all it does it reaffirm that I am the only one left?"

Jake sat quietly, trying to come up with a valid answer, but nothing came to mind. He wished he could help Finn to try and understand the Comic Owl's intentions, but nothing short of the Cosmic Owl himself could answer that.

"_Duh!_", Jake thought to himself.

"Finn, get dressed. We have some errands to run."

"What? What kind of errands Jake?", Finn asked quizzically.

"We need to gather some supplies for an adventure. We're gonna be gone for a while".

"Jake, I really don't feel up for any adventures today. I'm not in the right mindset".

"This isn't just any adventure bro", Jake said excitedly, "We're going on an adventure to find the one person who can answer your questions about your dreams".

"Who?", Finn asked with rising curiosity.

"Simple", Jake said with a grin, "We're going find the Cosmic Owl.

* * *

**Writing this chapter really made me depressed. Let me know what you think.**


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